Bam Keith
North Kansas City, MO | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF | AFM
Music
Press
“When doing your job right, being a producer should be like being a psychologist”
Bam Keith holds the title “producer” proudly, but declares he is much more than that. We sat down with him at Steven G. Photography and were able to gain more insight into what it is that he does.
“I wrote 220 songs for the Grammy Association in a month and that’s why they hired me on.” He is not boastful in his accomplishments, but they are significant and brag worthy. The beginning of his come-up started by his arts director in high school, Mr. Kelly, secretly entering Bam Keith in the Grammy Museum Music Revolution Project. This program taught students how to write different genres of music and at the end of the month they would record their songs. The program served as a gateway for other opportunities for Bam Keith. Since then, he has attended the Grammy’s multiple times, was able to record Bryson Tiller while he was in LA, and now serves as a mentor with the Grammy Association. AND on top of that he continues to produce music for various artists.
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The Kansas City native was very vocal, and open, about how he works with artists and the role he is prepared to play in any project. “I’m not someone who just makes a beat but also helps with writing the songs.” We were curious about the process and how he deciphers what is the right “style” for each individual artist and his answer was simple, “There’s different mentalities for different people. I like to have them express themselves and then work on it and create from there.” It sounds like tedious work, but something that comes naturally to Bam Keith. During our interview he went on to explain the flexibility of a producer. They serve not only as the engineers for putting the songs together, but can wear many hats. Producers are not just producers.
His involvement with music started at a young age and was somewhat accidental. He grew up in music and eventually started playing the drums at church. His interest started out of boredom and not so much curiosity. “I was in the choir with my mom and thought ‘this is boring.’ So I started playing on the drums and was good at it. The main drummer ended up walking out after that. I was ten.” This was also around the same time that he started creating beats. Bam Keith has accomplished, and grown, a lot since the age of ten. However, he is still into drums and uses that as the starting point for many of his beats.
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Bam Keith is a unique individual who takes pride in being original. “I don’t use a lot of samples. I like to rely on my skill. If I do use samples, I like to mess with it until it’s not noticeable.” He has a unique process for creating and being able to see sounds as color aids in this process. Bam Keith was diagnosed with synesthesia at the age of eighteen. He has always been able to view music as a color, but was not aware of the term. As he explained it to us, he reminisced on the first time he was able to see music. “I was in the car riding with my mom and a mint condition song came on. I asked her to rewind it and tried to show her that it was green.” Now, he is able to use this when creating music to see what color would be in harmony with another. Cool, right?
To hear some of Bam Keith’s work, check out soundcloud.com/bamkeith. The young producer is currently working on an album with G-Watts and an album with an artist from Brooklyn named George Watsky. - Steven G. Photography
Kansas City’s Bam Keith, Grammy Museum Revolution Project-certified musician and producer, also a member of We Are Art (WAA), just released a smoking remix of just one of the many classic songs from Michael Jackson’s catalogue, “Remember The Time” from MJ’s early 90’s LP, Dangerous. This tune is pretty massive coming out of Kansas City’s piping hot producer/beat-maker scene right now. Usually, I’m pretty on-point with identifying a time and place that a song should be heard, but this “Remember The Time” remix cooked up by Bam Keith leaves me at a bit of a loss for thoughts in that regard. I suppose it could be classified as pop. I also think that if the right crowd is found, this cut could go off in certain clubs. This is the first time we’ve profiled his solo producer work on Demencha, as far as I can remember, but with jams like this coming out of his affiliation with CaviArt and WAA, we are surely looking forward to hearing more. Given that Bam Keith reportedly plays sixteen different instruments, there will probably be more music coming from Bam Keith. Follow him on soundcloud. - Chris Mills
Just a few weeks ago, KCMO artist, Dettsa had us in a frenzy over his track “Obsessive”. Now, the young artist has returned with a new banger that speaks for itself.
“Go Crazy”, a Bam Keith produced track, is a hard hitting track with a flow that packs one hell of a punch. Last night, Dettsa performed an exclusive set at KC’s biggest Hip Hop music festival, Indyfest (pictured below). Listen to “Go Crazy” above. - RYAN HENRY
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Brandon Keith Thomas (born September 19, 1993) known by his stage name Bam Keith (formerly BamAnakin) is a music producer with The Grammy Museum. In this role, Bam Keith works with a team named WAA (We Are Art formed in 2012) in all aspects of music, including production, writing and promotion.
A big believer in music, Bam supports Music Cares.
Bam is also a qualified musician that plays 16 instruments and holds the certification from the Grammy Museums Music Revolution Project. Bam Keith is no stranger to music production, having spent 14 years as a musician and a technological enthusiast, where he played drums in jazz band, piano and organ at churches, won competitions for band and practiced on his old computer on music production religiously.
Before joining The Grammy Museum in 2013 Bam attended Paseo High School and graduated in 2012 with a gpa of 3.8. Bam was also to be named a music tutor in his final year of high school.
In this role, Bam was responsible for teaching improvisation skills, handing out homework and music theory.
Bam played at 2 churches during his come up that he says "helped him flow" for music. He was a music director for the musicians and studied his craft relentlessly. By the age of 18 his principal signed him up for a one month long program called the Grammy Museums Music Revolution Project. During the program Bam learned a few skills that he would take with him for a lifetime.
Bam Keith has more than 10 years of experience in music production.
Prior to starting his production business, Bam Keith spent 10 years as a songwriter writing his own raps and songs for just himself to hear. Then began to write for others he grew up with.
In the beginning of 2013- 2014 Bam was invited by The Grammy Museum to the 55th and 56th Annual Grammy Awards for his productions with The Grammy Music Revolution Projec
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